Key Takeaways

• Find in-progress podcast episodes more easily by saving them first.
• Stop unwanted podcast recommendations by marking all episodes as finished in the show’s settings.
• While there may not be an automatic equalizer, you can improve your podcast audio by manually applying an EQ in Spotify’s playback settings.

While I love Spotify for bringing me all of my audio in one place, there are certain aspects of its podcast functionality that I think could be improved. Here are the podcast-related bones I have to pick with Spotify as well as the best existing solutions I’ve found.

1 Sorting In-Progress Podcast Episodes

Some episodic podcasts have hundreds of standalone episodes, and you may not listen to these episodes linearly. When you have to pause in the middle of listening, it can be convoluted to find that episode again. Searching on a podcast’s show page, Spotify has filters to view All Episodes, Downloaded, or Unplayed, and an option to sort by Newest or Oldest. Personally, I’d love to see an In Progress filter on the show’s page. However, this feature is only accessible when you save episodes.

Here’s how to save episodes and access the In progress filter:

1. Save or add an episode to Your Episodes by tapping the plus sign next to the description.
2. Navigate to Your Library tab > Your Episodes. You’ll see a filter for In progress on this page.
3. Similarly, downloading an episode will add it to Your Episodes. Just tap the down arrow near the episode’s description to move it to Your Episodes.

If sorting in-progress episodes is a priority for you, and you’re an iPhone user, you might also consider
Overcast
, which has an automated In Progress playlist on its home page.

2 Curbing Podcast Recommendations

Spotify will push podcasts you’ve interacted with, even if those interactions are not necessarily positive. If you try a new show and decide to bail after one episode, Spotify doesn’t read that as disinterest or offer an option like Netflix’s Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down ratings. While you can rate a title publicly on Spotify, this feels like overkill when you’re only trying to affect your own algorithm.

In lieu of a personal rating system, here is how to stop Spotify from recommending a podcast you’re not interested in:

1. Go to the show page and open the Settings gear.
2. Under Manage, tap Mark as finished. Select the first bubble to Mark all as finished.

Now, click Done, and you’re good to go.

3 Automatic EQ Settings

Spotify has impressive equalizer settings that can improve your audio depending on what you’re listening to. For example, I use the Spoken Word equalizer when listening to podcasts, particularly in the car, where street noise and wind drown out voices.

The dreamer in me would love to be able to automate those EQ settings, such as with a preference to apply a specific equalizer any time I play a podcast episode. Until that day, you can apply an EQ manually, even if it is deep in your playback settings:

1. Click on your profile icon in the upper left corner of the app.
2. Select Settings and privacy > Playback > Equalizer.
3. Move the slider to the right to turn on your Equalizer, and Also apply to podcasts.
4. Scroll down and tap Spoken Word to apply that equalizer.

These three perceived flaws aside, there is still plenty to love about using Spotify to listen to podcasts. As picky as I might be as a podcast producer and super-consumer, I’ll gladly put up with a few points of irksome UI for the rewards of having a comprehensive listening app and features like being able to listen to episodes offline. Ultimately, everyone will have their own unique preferences, and luckily, there are many free apps for podcasts to choose from.